Kremlin says Ukraine has more troops near border

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Kremlin says Ukraine has more troops near border

The Ukrainian national flag flies over the town of Kramatorsk, Ukraine on November 25, 2021. MOSCOW, December 1, Reuters - The Kremlin said on Wednesday it could not de-escalate tensions with the West over Ukraine due to a large concentration of Ukrainian forces near its border.

U.S. NATO and Ukrainian officials have expressed concerns about unusual Russian troop movements near Ukraine. Moscow has said its posture is purely defensive.

A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said on Wednesday Ukraine had half of its army or 125,000 troops deployed to Donbass, a conflict zone in eastern Ukraine, where government forces have been fighting Russia-backed separatists since 2014.

Moscow was seriously concerned about the large number of Ukrainian troops near Russia, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

He said Russia was concerned that Kyiv might try to solve its conflict with Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine by force.

Russia can't take any measures to de-escalate, Peskov told a briefing. More than 120,000 Ukrainian troops have been deployed to the conflict zone, according to the messages. Peskov said that the sentiments in Ukraine are worried that a military solution to the Donbass problem could prevail.

This has caused us deep concern because it is happening in the immediate vicinity of our borders.